Monday, September 14, 2015

On 9-20-15, Acts 5:27-29, 33-42 will be our Adult Sunday School/ Uniform Series/ International Sunday School Lesson, herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as Witnessing to the Truth or Speaking Up for God

Witnessing to the Truth
or
Speaking Up for God
Acts 5:27-29, 33-42

September 20 2015



Commentary 
by
Jed Greenough





I can tell you right now I cannot put down in words something this week that will do justice to what I feel about today’s scripture.  That is how much I want you to weigh the words of today’s scripture.

In Matthew 10:32-33 we read, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.”

It is with much confidence that I say that whoever fails to take the opportunity to speak up for God or witness about Him when they could is in effect disowning Him.

That can be in our daily lives as that “small” voice of the Spirit nudges you to speak or witness and you fail to do so.  And it will happen in droves as the “rebellion” occurs and the people fall away as we read in 2 Thessalonians 2.  

Failing to speak up in the barber chair when given the opportunity is not the same as taking on the literal or figurative mark of the beast but as I’ve quoted before from Aaron Tippen’s song, “You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll  fall for anything.”  Meaning that when things get tough and if you haven’t got the practice of speaking up for God it sure won’t be easy to do then.  It seems even if must be a bit selfish in our thoughts that this alone would motivate some to witness.

I think we must place the act of witnessing above all other things in the church.  Ahead of financial peace, ahead of socials, ahead of addiction counseling, ahead of how to be a grown up man or woman or how to be couples.

We are pretty good about those things as churches but most of us as churches are not giving as much emphasis on this the most important of issues.

It starts with the new convert who receives the word in the fertile ground with continuing nurturing growth and it continues in your class room and from the pulpit and with periodic refresher courses whatever that might be.  Go bowling once and you throw more gutter balls then strikes.  Become a professional bowler but take enough time off from practice and yeah your game is going to suffer.

I challenge you to start speaking up for God every time you know you should or can.  I challenge you to get your Sunday School class involved to get it established in your church.  I challenge you to motivate your church to take it seriously.

How much of an impact could 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 of us who are studying these words make?  How do you think you will feel when on That Day He acknowledges you?




For Discussion:

  1. Discuss the roll that our individual gifts of the Spirit play in the ways we witness.
  2. Discuss what a Sunday School class can do to improve a church in this regard.
  3. Discuss ways you have failed to witness.
  4. Discuss ways you have successfully witnessed.
  5. Discuss ideas you have for witnessing.
  6. As a class project choose a number like 50 and come up with 50 ways to witness.
  7. Discuss how to overcome fear.
  8. Discuss the most extremely serious ways possible where we must acknowledge God before men both doing so and failing to do so.
  9. Discuss examples where people have been called before the authorities for witnessing.  This might be school, work or some place in the world.
  10. Discuss when people flee when their message is not welcome.
  11. Discuss Gamaliel’s statement.
  12. Discuss verse 41.
  13. Discuss verse 42.
  14. Odds are your class, your church, the majority will not accept the challenge.  Will you?



Upcoming Lessons


9-27-15     Standing Firm Against Opposition or Remembering God’s Faithfulness     Acts 7:2-4, 8-10, 17, 33, 34, 45-47, 52, 53 












Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved

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